Nindo: Way of the Twelve
by Rei Ronin
Summary: In Konoha's history, there have been many famous groups and eras. None were so famous as the Twelve and their Test. This is the story of the Testing of the Twelve. This is the story of Naruto Uzumaki and his friends. NaruHina and other pairings.
1. Chapter 1

Nindo: Way of the Twelve

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Preliminary Author's Spiel: This is my first foray into the Naruto fandom, and credit where credit's due, my inspiration (and a few plot ideas) came from the incredible fic, Team 8. Hopefully this won't come off as just a poor imitation of S'TarKan's story. I also hope that you enjoy the story, and will tell me what I'm doing right and wrong.

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**Konoha Ninja Academy**

**Era of the Twelve's Peace**

**Start of the Academy Year**

Umino Iruka was not what most would picture if they were asked to think of a jounin. He was good-natured, normally soft-spoken, very sane, and hardly looked like a man who could butcher a street full of civilians without breaking a sweat. But the headmaster of the Konoha Ninja Academy had to be a jounin, and no one was better suited for the post than the smiling man with the scar across the bridge of his nose.

His hair had just began graying a few years back, when the Fifth had appointed him to the post, but his love for teaching the youth of the hidden village the arts needed to become a shinobi had not abated, even if it had probably pushed his graying ahead of schedule. His warm eyes roved over the latest class of six-year old ninja hopefuls. It seemed like a good group, though he knew full well that over the next eight years, many of them would leave the academy for more normal lives. A head of pink hair made him smile. It seemed like the Haruno family had decided that they wished for more of their clan to follow their most famous daughter's example and become shinobi. The whine of a puppy reminded him that the Academy had yet another member of the wild Inuzuka clan to train. As he continued to look, he saw the pure white eyes of a Hyuuga. The timid looks the Hyuuga boy threw around him reminded him of yet another former student. Dark sunglasses and high collar…another Aburame. And there in the front row, a mop of blonde hair.

Iruka smiled gently. No, the child wasn't Naruto's. But he couldn't help but remember the boy he had given his hitai-ate to. He couldn't help but remember his class. Shaking off his musings, he addressed the class. "Welcome to Konoha Ninja Academy. Over the next eight years, you will learn many things. Over the next eight years you will become many things. And over the next eight years, I have no doubt, you will accomplish many things.

"Life as a shinobi is not easy," he went on, "and it is not easy to become one. Here at the academy, you will push yourself to the limits of human potential, to a level that some call supernatural and some call impossible. But for any hidden village, shinobi are the blood of society's life. We defend the weak and punish the wicked. We shinobi of Konohagakure are the ears, eyes, blades, and shields of the entire Fire Nation."

The children were paying close attention. Nothing like playing to egos. "From you academy students, to the Hokage herself, we are the proud ninja of the Fire Nation. We have changed the world for the better time and time again, in ways both small and large, and we will continue to do so. It is my honor and privilege to help you take your first steps into the great tradition of the Leaf, which stretches back to our First and Second Hokage, and includes the Third, Konoha's White Fang, the Legendary Sannin, one of who became the Fifth, Konoha's Yellow Flash also known as the Fourth, the Copycat Ninja, the Genjutsu Mistress, the Wind Dragon, Konoha's Green Beast, and most recently, The Twelve."

Iruka turned to the door at the front of the lecture hall, where a silhouette could be made out through the frosted glass. "It is now my honor and privilege to introduce you to a former student of mine, the man know as the First of the Twelve, the Wind that fans the Will of Fire, the Kyuubi's Jailor, the man who brought us together with the Sand, Konoha's Savior, and the man next in line for the office of Hokage: Uzumaki Naruto."

The door slid open to reveal a man with a shock of blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, and three whisker lines on each cheek. "Geeze Iruka-sensei," he said as he walked over to the lectern. "Don't you think you laid it on just a little bit thick?" He smiled at his old teacher, the first man that he knew had accepted him.

Iruka smiled back at Naruto. "I thought I had forgotten a few titles."

Naruto rolled his eyes. A full grown man now, it was impossible not to see his blood tie to the Fourth. Only a slightly different hairstyle and the lines on his cheeks made him look any different. "Don't make me pull out the old _Oiroke no Jutsu_, sensei." That got a laugh from Iruka and a few confused mutters in the crowd before Naruto turned to them as Iruka slipped out the door. "The Shinobi of the Leaf are the finest in the world. And contrary to what many of you now believe, it isn't because of our techniques, our training, or may the Kami forbid, our bloodlines. That's individual, part of what makes each of us…each of you, our own selves. No, the Shinobi of the Leaf are the finest in the world because of our Nindo, our Ninja Way." Naruto took a deep breath. Out of all the things he had done in his life, creating the Nindo that became that of the Loyal of the Twelve, and eventually, all of Konoha, was his proudest achievement. His Academy dream, becoming Hokage, seemed pale in comparison. He drew a knife from the sheath at the small of his back and stuck it into the wood of the lectern, where it stood for the class to see. It was a blade of slightly under seven inches in length, double-edged with a diamond cross-section, tapering to a vicious point. The guard was a simple flat metal oval, and the handle was distinctively shaped, almost like a vase or old-time soda bottle, made of metal with a diamond-pattern knurled grip a bit more than five inches long. A ring sat on the pommel, with a short loop of black cord threaded through it. The blade was polished to a mirror finish, showing the grain of the steel, and the handle was anodized black. The children gasped. Everyone in Konoha knew about the First of the Twelve's famed chakra knife. Whispers broke out before Naruto's clear voice broke through them.

"I may go down in history for what I accomplished with that knife with my friends at my side, but I will always be proudest of the Nindo of the Shinobi of the Leaf." He placed his hands on the side of the lectern, leaning forward and looking at each of the new students in the eye in turn. "A Shinobi of the Leaf never gives up. A Shinobi of the Leaf never breaks her word. A Shinobi of the Leaf always becomes stronger than he was the day before. A Shinobi of the Leaf looks beneath the beneath. And finally, a Shinobi of the Leaf always fights for those who are precious to them. I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and that's my ninja way. And today, it becomes your ninja way. Today you begin the road to becoming full Shinobi of the Leaf. Make me proud. Make Konoha proud. Make your precious people proud. And make yourself proud!"

o0o0o0o

Iruka smiled as Naruto exited the classroom, excited chatter following him out the open door, before he closed it. "A good bunch of kids, I think. Nice speech, Naruto."

Naruto returned his old teacher's smile, rolling his knife over in his fingers before sheathing it at the small of his back. "Thanks, Iruka-sensei. I think they'll make fine ninja." He looked back at the door wistfully. "It's hard to remember being that young."

Iruka snorted. "You might have forgotten about your time at the Academy, but let me assure you, I sure as hell haven't. I couldn't even if I wanted to." He smiled a bit ruefully. "I know that teachers aren't supposed to play favorites, and focus on one student more than another, but you just seem to break all the rules, Naruto."

Naruto smiled. "Thanks Iruka-sensei. You, graduating, the old man who taught us taijutsu, and playing hooky with the other slackers were the only good things about this place for me."

The man with the nose scar laughed out loud. "Well, you've certainly come a long way since then. Want to go get ramen at Ichiraku's for old times sake?"

The blonde shinobi laughed. "Sure thing Iruka-sensei." As the older jounin started walking off, Naruto put a hand to the window and looked across the taijutsu and weapon skills courtyard to the old Academy building, focusing on the window of his old classroom, the one he had been assigned his team in. "I've come a long way since then," he murmured, then turned to follow his old teacher.

**-+-+-+-+-**

**Konoha Ninja Academy**

**Era of the Twelve's Testing**

**Team Assignment Day**

"What the hell are you doing here, Naruto?" asked Nara Shikamaru. "Today's meeting is only for graduates."

Naruto just gave him a smile that made him look like a fox. "I've got a hitai-ate, don't I? I'm a genin, same as you, Shikamaru."

The Nara boy let a smirk cross his face. "Kami save us all. How troublesome."

Naruto smirked right back. He and Shikamaru got along alright, though if anyone in the class was really his friend, it was Inuzuka Kiba. Shikamaru and the last slacker, Akimichi Chouji, were just too close together. "Yeah, you just keep on complaining. I swear, you'd whine if I saved your life."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and took a seat next to Chouji at the desk in front of Naruto. As Naruto opened his mouth to say something, a dog barked next to him and he spun around to see Kiba and Akamaru standing where Shikamaru was. "I don't be-fucking-lieve it!" crowed Kiba. "Where'd you get that hitai-ate from?" he asked as he put the blonde in a friendly headlock, sitting down next to Naruto.

As Naruto escaped the lock and started recounting the tale of his theft of scroll of sealing and the fight with Iruka and Mizuki, avoiding the part about Kyuubi, a pair of pure white eyes watched him from a few desks away. The owner of these eyes, Hinata Hyuuga, poked her forefingers together and blushed at the thought that Naruto would be graduating with the rest of their class, something which made her very happy.

As Naruto got to the point in the tale where he made his stand against Mizuki, gesticulating with one had while scratching Akamaru with the other, the door at the top of the classroom burst open with a paired shout of "GOAL!" A running argument made it's way to the desk above Naruto and Kiba's growing larger as all the kunoichi but one argued over who was going to get to sit with Uchiha Sasuke, the year's number one rookie, and class heartthrob.

Kiba growled and spun around. "Would the lot of you just shut the hell up! Naruto's telling me about how he kicked a chuunin's ass last night!"

A collective hiss from the Sasuke fan club told Kiba he might have been a little audacious. Sakura scoffed. "Right! Like Mr. Dead-last could take on a chuunin. You'd need a hundred Narutos before you equaled one genin. He can't even do the _Bunshin no Jutsu_ right."

Hurt flashed across Naruto's face, but he had never been one to back down. "Iruka-sensei knows the truth! He gave me his hitai-ate after I beat the crap out of Mizuki." He snarled just a bit. "Who cares about some worthless _Bunshin no Jutsu_? I can do a _Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_." He turned around in a huff and returned to telling Kiba about the events of last night. Sasuke tsked and looked out the window.

"Hey! Don't you just ignore me!" squawked Sakura, getting ready to hit Naruto in the back of the head.

The door at the front of the classroom opened and Umino Iruka strode in with only slight discomfort. The medic-nin had done their job well. In his hand was the list of the new genin training teams. "Alright everyone, settle down." When they had all gotten seated, Iruka stood in front of the class with legs apart, hands clasped behind his back. "Today you are all officially ninja. However, you are still fresh genin. So you will be put into groups of three to work with jounin instructor for a time."

This immediately set speculation about who would be on the same teams. Naruto looked over to Kiba. It would be cool to be on a team with the fellow wild child, and maybe if he was with Sakura, she'd start to actually look at him, rather than that Sasuke jerk. Heck, he'd be fine with pretty much anyone, just not that stuck-up Uchiha.

"We've arranged the groups by putting together specialties for each team, much like we do with the more fluid higher-ranked teams. It's a change from our old system of putting people together by rankings to balance the teams out. I will now announce the teams." He went through six of the groups, listing off a number of specialties, before coming to Team 7. "Team 7 will be set up for heavy combat." Naruto perked up. Heavy combat sounded like just his kind of thing. Plenty of glory, and it couldn't hurt to have a small army of yourself in heavy combat, right?

"Inuzuka Kiba." At this Kiba perked up, a bit surprised, but soon smirked. He liked to fight. It was a bit surprising that he hadn't been assigned to a tracking team, but oh well. This would be fun. He pounded fists with Naruto. Now if only the blonde was assigned to Team 7, too. "Haruno Sakura." Kiba tched at this. He didn't like the Sasuke fan girl much at all. Sure, she was cute and all, but what a bitch! And not the kind Akamaru would be looking for in the future. Naruto, however, thought this was just perfect. Heavy combat, Kiba and Sakura. He had to be the next one, he just had to. "Uchiha Sasuke." As Sakura squealed fangirlishly, Kiba gritted his teeth and Naruto cursed. That Uchiha bastard had cheated him out of his spot on the perfect team for him. Even as Naruto wallowed in obvious depression, a white-eyed girl let out a small sigh of relief. She still had a chance to be on a team with Naruto.

"Man, this is gonna suck," growled Kiba to Naruto. "I wish you got that last spot. The fan girl I could deal with, but now I've got to deal with the Uchiha genius. I better get the chance to smash a bunch of heads. I hope you draw Shikamaru." Naruto nodded in commiseration and agreement. So much for the perfect Team 7.

"Team 8," continued Iruka, "Will be set up as a long-range reconnaissance raider force. Hyuuga Hinata." The white-eyed girl started hoping against hope that the blonde ninja would draw Team 8 as well, while Naruto looked at the wall indifferently. Recon sounded boring. He wanted to be a fighting ninja. Though raiding sounded like fun. Smash, grab, harass…it was like a village-sponsored prank. Recon though…boring. Just watching and gathering information was no fun at all. "Aburame Shino." No one really had anything to say or feel about that. The sunglasses-wearing boy was smart, competent, and very taciturn. The whole bug thing also creeped most people out. "Uzumaki Naruto." Hinata nearly fainted in blushing happiness. Naruto considered his lot. At least his teammates didn't go out of their way to be mean to him or anything. He didn't really know anything about either of them, but he supposed that he could live with it. So long as it was more raiding than recon. He let himself smile. He'd make the best of it, and prove himself. He was Uzumaki Naruto, and someday, he was going to be Hokage!

"Oooh," said Kiba. "Got stuck with bug boy, huh? Bad break there. But hey, eyes might be fun."

Naruto shrugged, feeling a little flash of annoyance. He wouldn't judge his teammates without getting to know them, and he wished Kiba wouldn't either. "I'll live," he answered.

Iruka had already made through Team 9. "Team 10 will be set up as a capture and light combat team. Yamanaka Ino. Nara Shikamaru. Akimichi Chouji." That team elicited a groan and a few complaints from Ino, and a snicker from Shikamaru. Chouji just kept on snacking. "That's all the teams. All assignments are final. You'll meet your jounin sensei this afternoon. Until then, dismissed!"

o0o0o0o

Naruto slurped instant noodles as Kiba ripped hunks of meat off of some unidentified bone that he was holding, putting his clan's sharp teeth to good use. Akamaru gnawed on a smaller version of Kiba's meal on the ground at their feet. Kiba wasn't in a very good mood. "Shit man. This sucks, you know? I get assigned to a heavy combat team and I get stuck with a fangirl and the year's number one asshole." He tore another hunk of meat off the bone. "I envy you, man."

"Sakura-chan's not so bad," mumbled Naruto, looking down into his ramen. Honestly, he couldn't muster up too much enthusiasm for defending his crush right now. Two years ago, maybe even last year, he probably would have been up in arms to defend the pink-haired kunoichi, but the last year of violent contempt had started to really make an impression on the blonde. All part of growing up, he supposed, though it didn't really make him feel any better. Suddenly something struck him. He blinked and looked up at Kiba. "What do you mean, envy me? I'm on a recon team!"

Kiba looked at him in surprise. "Man, did you pay any attention in class?"

Naruto snorted. "You're one to talk, Kiba."

The brown-haired boy rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Long-range recon raider teams give the most people to ANBU's hunter nin division. It's a fast-track position."

Naruto gave him a look. "What, and heavy combat isn't?"

"Well, duh, yeah, but Uchiha's got his head stuck up his self-image's ass. And Haruno is so dead-set on getting a kiss from him that she jams her head straight up there with him." Naruto had to join in Kiba's laughs at that image. "Meanwhile, you've got Aburame and the Hyuuga girl. Lucky bastard."

"I don't get why I'm so lucky, but okay."

Kiba gave him a wide eyed look. "Are you kidding? Bug boy does a good job and doesn't go for the glory, and eyes…well I've heard rumors about Hyuuga girls, eh?" He elbowed Naruto with a raised eyebrow.

Naruto proving his incredible density, gave a little smile. "Yeah, like someone from the Hyuuga clan would bother to look at me…" For some reason beyond Naruto's comprehension, Kiba found this uproariously funny, bursting into laughter that threatened to suffocate him. "What's so damn funny, punk?" asked Naruto, narrowing his eyes.

"Nothing, nothing," said the Inuzuka boy when he finally caught his breath. "Say, you want to get in one last spar?"

Naruto's blue eyes lit up. "Is the Hokage's ass wrinkly?" he asked rhetorically, slurping down the last of his noodles and broth.

"I don't know, is it?" asked Kiba with a wicked grin, jumping to his feet and leaving the last of his meal to Akamaru.

Naruto gave him a blank look for a second before the jab caught up with him. "Hey!" He shook his head and popped up, punching Kiba in the arm. "You flea-bitten bastard! Taijutsu only. Let's get it on!"

Kiba smirked as he leapt back, bringing up his fists. "Bro, I don't swing that way. Besides, don't you prefer older men?"

Naruto's smile bared his own sharper-than-average teeth. "Oh you're dead for that," he said jokingly as he raised his hands to guard, hands still open but with fingers slightly curved into fists.

A small crowd formed around the two, creating an impromptu arena. The spars between the 'wild' children were popular spectator events…mostly because of the fact that Kiba and Naruto's personal styles of taijutsu were more vicious than those of most, and they didn't stint in spars.

Naruto and Kiba looked about them, both pleased with the idea of an audience. Looking back at each other across the ten or so feet that separated them, they shared a tooth-baring grin. "Hey, Akamaru," called out Kiba, not taking his eyes off of Naruto. "Care to start it?"

At the dog's bark, the two sprang forward to the cheers of the crowd.

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Author's Ending Spiel: Well, there's the first chapter. Sorry for the cliffhanger, but I promise, if there is a next chapter, I won't punk out and skip to the fight's aftermath. No, I like writing action, and hopefully I won't disappoint too much. 

I should probably mention that in this fic graduation age from the ninja academy is fourteen. So the characters are a bit older and wiser than the original series versions. They still look mostly like their counterparts in the original series, if a little more larger and more mature, but outfits are similar to the series, and Akamaru is still small.

Anyway, like I said at the beginning, this is my first time in the fandom, and I'd like to know what you guys think about my offering. So review! Tell me what's good, tell me what sucks, tell me that I should just give it up. Just tell me, though. _Ja na_ for now.


	2. Chapter 2

Nindo: Way of the Twelve

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Preliminary Author's Spiel: Well, considering the number of alert lists this story was added to as well as the gist of the reviews, I suppose I might as well continue the story. Besides, I really want to write the spar. I forgot to mention last time, but that 'chakra knife' mentioned last chapter is based on the Pattern 2 Fairbain-Sykes Fighting Knife, in case you're curious. The only real differences are the ring on the pommel and the fact that the blade's made of higher-quality steel. As in Damascus-level. Anyway, enough about that! Let's get to the punching!

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**Konoha Ninja Academy**

**Era of the Twelve's Testing**

**Team Assignment Day**

Schools all over the world were witness to playground brawls. It was just the way of things. Older persons watching would simply shake their heads, perhaps muttering the worn chestnut: "Boys will be boys." A pair of young children, or perhaps teenagers, rolling around in the dirt, punching each other to prove some point or another, with a jeering mob around them, watching the two 'innocent youths' beat the ever-loving 'innocent' crap out of each other. Ah, the jungle law of the playground.

Konoha Ninja Academy was witness to something very similar on that day. Two boys were doing their best to beat the other into submission, while a group cheered on the fight around them. Of course, the two innocent youths were both graduated genin, and their fighting styles were perfectly good for life-and-death struggle. The two 'boys' rolling around in the dirt at a normal school would be unconscious before they realized they were in a fight, were they put up against these two combatants. And there wasn't a point being 'proven' here. It was just for fun and practice. Yes, boys will be boys…but ninja will be ninja.

Kiba's starting lunge was shorter than Naruto's. As Akamaru's bark echoed back, his feet hit the ground side by side, his fists up and held under and a bit to the outside of his eyes. He held his elbows a little out from his torso to defend against kicks from the side. Bending his left leg, he pistoned his right out in a pushing kick, meant to repel Naruto's leap.

The kick's timing was perfect, and most of the crowd cheered as Kiba's sandal slammed sole-first into Naruto's stomach. The blonde had tightened his muscles just before impact, though, shielding his organs from the worst of the impact. He subtly flexed his body, adding to the force pushing him backwards. The blonde genin knew that he had gotten careless, jumping ahead like that at the beginning of the match, fists cocked. Now he landed, body turned towards Kiba with feet in line, left leg advanced. His weight was shifted more towards his right leg, and he held his hands half-fisted, left hand forward, and elbows down to protect the body.

Kiba didn't bother with looking sorry. "Whoops. Looks like my foot and your stomach just made friends."

Naruto just grinned. "Yeah, whoops." He turned his left hand slightly, and beckoned Kiba to the attack. The Inuzuka boy obliged him, taking a large step forward and bringing up his right leg into a high roundhouse kick, aiming for the side of Naruto's head. The blonde stepped into the blow, letting his left hand drift backwards, turning his wrist to catch Kiba's calf. His right hand shot forward to the other boy's leading shoulder, latching on before Naruto twisted his body backwards, applying downwards force as he went. Up on one leg as he was, Kiba couldn't compensate and was dragged into the arcing slam. Instead of capitalizing on the momentary window after the slam, Naruto used it to retreat out of range, reestablishing his stance and smirking at Kiba. "Whoops."

The bigger boy shook his head to clear it, before hopping to his feet. "Oh, my ass. Come on. Let's get some real striking done." He stepped forward in sync with Naruto, leading with his right. The blonde's left arm aggressively blocked it, punching Kiba's power arm out of the fight for a few seconds as Naruto's right blasted in at his stomach. Air blasted out of the Inuzuka's lungs. He hadn't been quite prepared for that, having missed the block, but he was far from finished. A shoulder twist recovered his out-wide arm, bringing it in as a hammerfist to the top of Naruto's left, stripping his main guard. As he occupied Naruto's right with his left, he pistoned forward his right fist at the blonde's chin. To his surprise, Naruto was faster on the recovery than he expected, and the smaller boy's left arm partially deflected the blow high, combined with a slight twist that had his fist impacting on the edge of the metal band of Naruto's hitai-ate.

_Note to self,_ thought Kiba._ Never strike for the hitai-ate. It makes your fist and jaw hurt. Wait…jaw?_

Kiba hadn't noticed, but Naruto's twist wasn't defensive in nature. He would have taken the hit on his hitai-ate in any case, and the metal and cloth actually meant something when you were fighting without chakra channeling to make your speed and power truly 'ninja-level'. The twist had helped him add power to a rising elbow spear that tagged Kiba right under the jaw line, actually popping him off the ground, just a bit. Naruto's grin grew a bit wider. It looked like he would be winning their last spar, the way the exchange was going. It was a satisfying thought. Kiba had both the advantages of weight and reach on him, even if Naruto edged him out a bit on speed when it came to pure non-chakra enhanced taijutsu. Naruto also had a positive genius for infighting and tactical maneuvering, things which most of the taijutsu instructors looked down on.

Recoiling just a bit, Naruto laid into Kiba's torso with a combination of punches and curled finger palm strikes, every once in a while grabbing at Kiba's jacket to prevent him from getting back far enough to mount an effective counter. Just as Kiba adapted enough to start swinging a few hooks at Naruto's unprotected sides, the blonde hit him with a textbook straight punch to the sternum, complete with step-through and wrist snap, following up with a turning back kick to the stomach, using the recovery time from the straight punch to cover the set-up.

Kiba just barely tensed his muscles as the kick impacted, flying back to the roar of the crowd and falling on his ass. The kids might not have liked Naruto all that much, but they did like taijutsu, and this was a good match. Better, since Kiba wasn't done yet, climbing to his feet and taking a more crouched stance, looking to take the fight to the ground. Both the fighting genin had huge smiles on their faces, and were just about to go at it again when…

"**WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE KAMI DO YOU TWO THINK YOU'RE DOING?"**

The entire crowd jumped to see Iruka-sensei standing there, face red. The majority of the crowd found good reasons to scamper, some of them going so far as to pull full-on _kawarimi no jutsu _to escape. Kiba and Naruto, obviously the two being yelled at, swore and jumped together, putting arms around shoulders. "Just getting in one final spar, Iruka-sensei," explained Naruto, elbowing Kiba in the stomach.

"Yeah, since we're on different teams and all," agreed Kiba, punching Naruto in the shoulder.

Iruka laughed. It was even the truth, hard as it was to believe from those two. He brought his attention back to the two of them, who looked ready to start up the spar again, what with all the shoves, elbows and punches he saw going about. "Well, I guess that's okay then. But get inside. It's time for you to meet your new sensei."

The two smiled, relieved at being let off the hook, and joined the crowd of students heading back into the building.

o0o0o0o

Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin when a neutral voice spoke up behind him. "You favor infighting." Aburame Shino, though not the year's number one student, was an exceedingly competent shinobi. It probably didn't hurt that Naruto was wrapped up in two trains of thought, one happy…the spar, and the other depressed…the team assignments. Blue eyes looked up from the desk to meet a sunglasses-obscured gaze.

"Uh, yeah," agreed Naruto, not exactly sure what to say to the enigmatic Aburame boy, who had just slid the seat on one side of him out and proceeded to sit next to Naruto. It was something Naruto could never remember happening previously. But with them being assigned to the same team, he supposed that it wasn't _so_ strange. The blonde scratched the back of his head. What had prompted this, he couldn't say.

"Why?" Shino's face remained as impassive as ever, eyes and mouth hidden behind his trademark outfit.

Naruto shrugged, becoming a bit defensive. "I don't know, I just do. It works, you know…and the old man always said one of my strengths was that I'm not afraid to get in close…" he paused for a second, then shot a glare at the enigmatic boy. "Why, you got a problem with…" He caught himself. "Wait. You're an infighter too, aren't you?"

The Aburame boy gave an imperceptible nod. "The Aburame clan taijutsu style focus heavily on infighting. I was merely curious as to why you had chosen infighting as your specialty."

"Blame the old man," said Naruto, referring to the Academy taijutsu instructor, one of the few people who actually treated him decently. He was a bit of an Academy mystery, to be honest. Rumors abounded about him, particularly about his eyes, which were very obviously not blind, but had the hazy look of some forms of blindness. Some even suspected him of being an outcast Hyuuga, owing to his odd eyes and knowledge of the Jyuuken. Speaking of Hyuugas…Hinata was standing in the doorway, looking around for a seat. Well, if Shino was going to sit next to him, he might as well get the third member of their team over there as well. "Oi, Hinata, over here!" he yelled, waving the girl over.

Her blush and timid approach set Naruto to wondering just what was up with the girl. Honestly, what a _weird_ girl. As she sat down on his other side, poking her fingers together, he turned back to Shino, continuing with the conversation. "Yeah, he kept me after class the first time and started going on and on about how I had real potential as an infighter, even if that Uchiha bastard kicked my ass. Ended up teaching me some style that was 'near and dear' to his heart or something. Never could pronounce the name he gave it."

"Interesting," temporized Shino, who was honestly surprised at the fact that any Academy teacher would go so far as to teach a unique style to Naruto. It was common knowledge that the blonde child was not well liked by the majority of the adults in the village. Shino had noted the neglect and harsh words that followed in the boy's wake. It seemed that the taijutsu instructor had not taken the common path.

Hinata drew in a surprised breath. "Suteru-sama taught you _Sessen_?"

Naruto looked over to Hinata in surprise. Even he didn't know the old man's name. Maybe there was some truth to the rumors of him being an outcast Hyuuga. He'd definitely have to ask her later. "No, he called it…_Kurabu Maga_, I think. Like I said, I could never pronounce it." Naruto looked around the room, noting that all but a few teams had come in to take their seats. He glared at the back of Uchiha's head, hoping that Kiba would show the icy bastard up in the real world. He turned looked back at his new team, opening his mouth to say something, but shut it as he heard the door slide open, and saw Iruka-sensei walk in behind the last straggling graduates.

"Okay, everyone settle down. Your teams' jounin sensei will be here soon. I wish you all the best of luck in your careers as Shinobi of the Leaf." The scarred man smiled at the lot of them, then exited the door.

A dark-haired woman with red eyes was the first in the door, wearing an outfit that seemed made up of white bandages with black markings, and completed by a red sleeve.

"Team 8!"

Naruto and his new teammates stood and followed the lady out of the classroom.

o0o0o0o

Team 8's jounin sensei had led them to a nearby park, then turned and gave them a smile. "Well then, why don't we get to know each other? I'll start. I'm Yuuhei Kurenai, and you guys are my first genin team. My specialty is genjutsu, both passive and active. I enjoy the study of psychology, and to learn in general. I dislike people who dismiss me either because of my gender or because of my specialty. My ambition is to make you three into the best long-range recon raider team in Konoha's history, and to help you accomplish your ambitions. You next." She gestured towards Naruto.

"My name's Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen and sparring. I hate the three minutes I have to wait for instant ramen, and stuck up bastards who act like they're better than everyone. My ambition is to become Hokage and make the whole village respect me!" His fists clenched as he yelled out the last.

Kurenai nodded with a small smile on her face. Heart counted for a lot in Konoha, and drive as well. The boy was unfortunately weak on a number of areas, but he had an incredible amount of latent potential, far more than any normal ninja, bloodline holder or not, could hold. That was just they way of things with jinchuriki. And Kurenai had meant what she said about helping her genin accomplish their ambitions. She would do everything in her power to make him the best candidate for the office of the Hokage that she could. Satisfied with the blonde, she looked at the Aburame boy.

"I am Aburame Shino," he began. "I enjoy studying insects and cataloguing species that my family has yet to find. I dislike people who make uninformed judgments, as well as people who carelessly kill insects. My ambition is to master and expand the Aburame clan's jutsu, and to serve Konoha in the tradition of the finest shinobi."

Kurenai nodded at this. The Aburame boy was certainly the closest of the three to being truly ready to be placed on a recon raider team, but then, what fresh genin was truly ready? It was her job to shape them into ninja worthy of the position. His attitude and mindset was a good one. The jounin just hoped that he was willing to learn skills outside of the Aburame clan's specialized jutsu. Nodding again, she turned to Hinata.

"Ah…I am Hyuuga Hinata. I like kind and determined people…and enjoy gardening. I dislike senseless cruelty…and people being forced into roles by something not their fault. My ambition is to gain the acceptance of my clan…as well as the acknowledgement of someone else." She poked her fingers together at this last bit, looking over, just for a second, at Naruto.

The female jounin had expected this. She had, when still a chuunin, been assigned to escort the girl to her first day at the Academy. Suicidal as it would have been, she had been hard pressed to keep from assaulting Hyuuga Hiashi. Hinata was not held in high regard by the Hyuuga clan, despite her place as the eldest child of the clan head. As for her crush on Naruto…well, that was obvious to anyone with eyes. It was a wonder that even Naruto, perhaps the most situationally dense ninja on the planet, hadn't picked up on the fact that she carried a torch for him. "Okay then. Now that we all know a little about each other, I think that we need to get acquainted with each others' skills. Your first order as Team 8 is to move to Training Ground 17 with all speed. Okay…GO!" She disappeared with a _Shunshin no jutsu_, masking her departure with a simple _Bunshin no jutsu_. The clone just watched them for a few brief seconds before they came to their senses, channeled chakra into their limbs and shot off in an orange and two tan blurs.

Kurenai looked over her shoulder as she completed another body flicker teleport, depositing herself on a rooftop near the base of the Hokage monument. The orange flash was certainly out in front, with the two tan ones in line behind it. She supposed it was only to be expected. Naruto would have spent most of his efforts on the physical training and the chakra arts that benefited taijutsu, given the way he was treated by Academy instructors. And with his chakra 'situation', the benefits he could reap from in-body channeling were honestly rather frightening. He could be an unholy terror in close combat, with plenty of available chakra for ninjutsu. A small smile edged onto Kurenai's lips. Naruto might not seem it at the moment, but he was probably going to end up the heart of Team 8's combat power. And that with a Hyuuga in the squad.

The dark-haired jounin took off in the more normal ninja dash, hopping rooftops as her students were behind her. Unless she missed her guess, the first tan streak would be Shino. The dark-haired boy didn't stand out at the Academy, but he was a solid shinobi, the kind that you wanted at your back when you were in trouble. Kurenai also suspected that a good deal of his not scoring higher than he did had something to do with the fact that he was an Aburame. The bug thing was admittedly rather creepy, and Aburame were not noted for an abundance of social graces. Beyond that, the Aburame specialized in recon and support skills. While they were the kind of thing ninja needed, especially in teams, the fact remained that combat skills still impressed most people.

Kurenai shook her head as she crouched, then uncoiled in a chakra-assisted spring that took her up towards the bare cliff near the Shodaime Hokage's image. Slapping her hands flat against the rock, she glued herself there with chakra, hanging on like a fly before tensing and hurling her self upwards, releasing the chakra hold and turning it into a repulsive effect, boosting her flight. She couldn't let her preconceptions shape how she viewed her team. She only had the information she had gleaned watching them in their Academy days, along with the Academy files. It wasn't much to go on. The Aburame boy could turn out to be complete scrub in the field for example. Things like that were unlikely, but possible. She would have to keep an open mind.

Another chakra-palm pull-up and she found herself landing at the lip of the cliff. Tensing, she sprang forward in a dash, arms trailing behind her. It wasn't much further to Training Ground 17.

o0o0o0o

Naruto winced as he approached the base of the Hokage Monument. There was no way that he could duplicate Kurenai's ascent. What had looked like simple climbing was revealed to be advanced chakra use up close. The cliff was much too sheer for it to be anything else. He altered his course on his next roofhop, heading for the stairs cut into the cliff. That would lose him time, but what else could he do?

An out-of place circular chimney loomed up in front of him, with no convenient roof in front of it. He winced, throwing his weight to the side and tucking his legs in. His sandals scraped against the side of the chimney before he let his legs fire, aiming his course for the crown of a pine tree. The tree bent as he hit it feet-first, snapping back in a shower of needles to send him back on course. Angry squawks and cries of 'demon child' floated up behind him, but he was on too much of a rush to care. A one-legged recovery put him back on course with a minimum of fuss, even though he had lost even more ground, as he confirmed by looking over his shoulder. His teammates were noticeably closer than they had been before. It beat smashing dead-on into the chimney, though.

Naruto grinned and let his chakra flow into his legs, doing his best to re-open the gap. This was FUN! Almost like running from the victims of one of his pranks, but without the trouble that inevitably caught up to him. It did lack a certain spice, but the act of roofhopping was exhilarating in and of itself, and it wasn't often that a ninja got the chance to really experience it. Normally, they would be occupied with something else while they roofhopped.

The blonde 'eeped' as he flung his legs into the splits, just barely clearing a TV antenna. He hadn't heard any pants rippage, but that was too close. Another roof and he landed on the winding steps that led up to the top of the Hokage monument. The smooth stones had him skidding crouched across the first landing, springing up two more before he hit the wall. He repeated this pattern up the stairs, making the best time he could without taking the cliff face itself. Near the top, he looked down to see Shino partway up and Hinata just starting her climb. A convenient branch made itself available as he cleared the top, so Naruto grabbed on, spinning around it to convert his upwards momentum into forwards movement. He raised a dust cloud as his sandals hit the bare ground inwards of the tree and skidded. He took only a second to gather his wits before he reinforced his internal chakra flow and bounded off into the trees, heading for the general direction of Training Ground 17. It wasn't much further now.

* * *

Author's ending spiel: Sorry this took so long. I know the ending of this chapter's a little rough, and that's because...well, I just had to end it. No good place to stop, you know?

For a few technical notes, the AU divergence point for this fic was a decree made by the Yondaime Hokage shortly before his death sealing the Kyuubi to reform the basic ninja academy, a decree that the Sandaime continued. So things are a little shook up from the original series. Also, as a writing exercise, I've decided to assign all of the main ninja real martial arts to pattern their taijutsu after. You've seen two so far. Kiba is patterned after MMA, though he'll still have the beast imitation style. Naruto...well, I'm not going to just say it, but I'll put down the clues so far: One of it's given names, _Sessen, _translates to 'close combat'. _Kurabu Maga_ is the real name formed entirely out of Japanese sounds. Finally, it's awfully ironic that I gave it to a blonde haired, blue eyed character.

Anyway, tell me what you like, tell me what you hate, tell me if you want more glimpses of the 'future' like in the first chapter...just TELL me. Constructive criticism helps me become a better writer, and nets you a better story. See you for now, and happy reading.


	3. Chapter 3

Nindo: Way of the Twelve

* * *

A Naruto Fic

* * *

Preliminary Author's Spiel: Firstly, I'd like to thank all you readers for your response to the last chapter. I was not honestly expecting a more than doubled response to the second chapter's posting, all things considered. As for the style I patterned Naruto's taijutsu after, Lord Cynic and huntsvilletiger were dead on with Krav Maga. I might just have to run 'a guess that taijutsu' feature. Or maybe not, depending on response and how I feel. Anyway, on with the story!

* * *

Her breath burned in and out of her lungs as Hinata continued to push herself to her limit, trying to keep Shino in sight as she dashed through the trees towards Training Ground 17. The pale-eyed girl was resigned to the fact that she would be the last to reach the destination given to them by their new teacher, but she was determined to not show any less than her best in front of Naruto-kun…even if her best was rather pitiful. Why was she being assigned to a recon raider team?

She cut off that line of thought as she burst in the clearing that marked Training Ground 17. Shino, who had arrived maybe five seconds ahead of her, was panting just about as hard as she was, hunched over with his hands on his knees, slowly moving over to taking slow drawn-out deep breaths as he recovered. For the first time she could remember, the Aburame boy was sweating heavily, and flushed with exertion. Hinata's legs trembled as she stumbled over to a convenient rock, landing rather heavily.

Naruto though…Naruto was already recovered. Hinata looked down at the ground. Either he had beaten Shino and her times by that much, or he had not even needed to work hard at the run. Despondent, she raised her white eyes to see a confusing approving look in Kurenai's crimson gaze. "Very good, all of you. We'll need to work on both your speed and endurance, but you all followed the order to move her as fast as you could to the utmost. Now, after you recover, I'd like to see a demonstration of your skills at taijutsu."

Shino recovered before she did, and walked over to stand in front of Naruto. Hinata and Kurenai watched as the blonde grinned, then slid into his basic side-on stance, hands held curled but not fisted. The Aburame boy was impassive as he took stance, right leg bent under his body, left leg forward and bent. His upper body faced Naruto flat-on, arms held tight in front, bent with the left leading. The oddest thing was how he held his hands. The backs of his palms faced the sky and his first two fingers on each hand were extended together into what looked almost claws. "Begin!" ordered Kurenai, and Naruto sprang forward, leading with his right fist.

Shino held stance as the blonde shot at him, waiting until Naruto's fist was just passing into his guard before he made his move, rolling his left elbow upwards, his finger 'claw' hooking in around Naruto's right wrist and pulling Naruto's punch out of line as Shino's right hand pistoned forward in a strike towards the blonde's solar plexus. Only Naruto's quick grab with his left hand saved his from the strike. The blue eyed boy blinked. "You weren't kidding about being an infighter, too."

"Not at all," agreed Shino, maintaining the deadlock.

Naruto's grin was open, honest…and bared teeth. "Great!" Shino's eyebrows rose above his glasses in surprise as Naruto popped his right arm upwards along Shino's left before swinging it in as a hammerfist aimed for the side of Shino's head. Ducking his head, Shino lowered his stance and shifted over to the right, moving his head far enough that Naruto's hammerfist merely ruffled his hair.

Naruto grinned, yanking Shino's right arm forward and down, while bringing his knee up. The strike wasn't perfect, Shino's lower stance ensuring that it hit his chest rather than his gut, but it still hit…and hard too. Naruto let go of Shino's right wrist as he made contact, letting the strike carry the larger boy backwards. A smirk had just started to cross his lips when the back of Shino's left hand whipped in under his arm and tagged the tip of his jaw with the Aburame's knuckles.

Even as Naruto's head whipped to the side, he sprang back on instinct, opening the range. Shaking his head just a bit, he reset his stance, as Shino raised himself up on his back leg, almost seeming to chamber his left leg, but in an almost-horizontal manner that Naruto had never seen before. The blonde only paused for a second before stepping forward into kicking range, drawing his back leg up and rotating his hip to slash his foot down and over into the side of Shino's neck.

Shino, of course, was having none of this, dropping his weight, and unchambering his leg to plant it into the ground. He leaned back out of the kick's arc, then struck at the back of Naruto's leg as it swept down, pulling the limb towards him to upset the blonde's balance. It worked too, Naruto stumbling forwards, before he planted his hands on the grass and swung his other leg around at the full extension of his body, taking Shino's legs out from under him. Hands and feet struck in the confused jumble that was ground fighting before Kurenai's voice rang out. "Enough!"

* * *

The red-eyed jounin considered what she had seen. And in all honesty, she was impressed. Shino had a fine fighting knowledge of the Aburame family style, it seemed. An infighting style, at Shino's apparent level, it was extraordinarily useful in single fights. Looking at it in pure taijutsu terms, it had its weaknesses, of course. The Aburame family style, as she understood it, worked to keep the enemy in front of the practitioner at close range, shutting down their offense and using openings created to take the opponent down. Unfortunately, it was vulnerable to attacks from the sides, limiting its use against multiple enemies. It compensated for that, somewhat, with extremely complex footwork and sensitivity training, but Shino had not shown any indications of anything beyond basic levels of footwork, though his sensitivity was apparently quite good.

Naruto was the real surprise though. She knew that he had spent much of his Academy efforts on his taijutsu training. Umino Iruka had not been anything but honest in his files on his students, and had specifically noted that only the Academy's taijutsu instructor had given him a fair chance. In fact, it seemed that the man thought Naruto had potential, the only teacher other than Iruka to say so. She still hadn't expected to see a notorious loudmouth practicing a flexible, unadorned style. And his instincts were good. Very good. Kurenai had never found bare-hands taijutsu of much use for her, preferring to use misdirection and weapons to defeat her opponents. A slight frame and her chosen specialty had left her practicing Konoha's Blending Flame style, an art which was effective, but defensive in nature, and unsuited to dealing with multiple attackers.

It was also completely unlike Naruto's apparent style, and she knew that she was going to have to find someone to teach Naruto to develop his taijutsu further. Maito Gai, maybe. She resolved to look into that after she was done with this test. There was no question in her mind that she'd be taking on this team. That was a given. There was real potential in these three, and Konoha needed as many recon raider-trained ninja as they could get. In a time of war, the specialization that the peaceful era had bred could prove a real liability on the battlefield. "Excellent, you two. Hinata, if you would spar with Naruto? Feel free to use Jyuuken, but do not use the chakra bursts. I don't want to see any serious injuries at this stage."

Hinata nodded slightly, eyes looking at the ground. She stood, feeling very nervous indeed. She knew her taijutsu was sub-par, and it didn't help that she was going to demonstrate that in front of Naruto…in a spar with him, no less. Her fingers felt clumsy as she performed the hand seals for Byakugan. The veins at the corners of her eyes bulged and suddenly she 'saw' everything around her for fifty meters. The chakra systems of her new teammates stood out particularly strong. Their sensei had the characteristic system of a jounin, vibrant and full. Shino's was odd, almost fuzzy seeming. She supposed the fine subdivisions were for the feeding of the kikaichu that every Aburame carried in their body. And Naruto…his chakra system was incredibly thick, and despite its incredible thickness, seemingly fuller than their jounin sensei's. And, bluntly put…that was plain weird.

She didn't have time to think about that, though. She had been called to demonstrate her taijutsu…pitiful as it was. She had a small advantage, at least. She had been able to observe Naruto's style in the quick bout he and Shino had just gone through. And, she supposed, it hadn't hurt that she'd watched…at a distance of course, each of his many spars with Kiba over the years.

Technically, she knew, she should be able to easily defeat Naruto. He had little to no experience against Jyuuken, and there really wasn't much one could do other than avoid a Hyuuga's blows. At infighting range, that wasn't really possible. But Naruto came on with all the force of a tsunami. Yes, he would be hit. But he was going to hit her.

Taking a deep breath to fortify herself, she held her left arm out almost dead straight, hand slightly cupped and fingers inclined towards Naruto. Her right hand was held low, at her hip, in the same manner. Her body was twisted, left shoulder leading, left leg in front, with the right leg bent and out to the side. Jyuuken's opening stance, handed down through the ages from the founder of the Hyuuga clan. It was older than the Great Elemental Nations themselves, and to Hinata, at least, just felt _wrong_.

Naruto blinked, almost looking like he wanted to ask a question. But Kurenai called out for them to begin before he could say anything.

* * *

Hinata was amazed that the cloth of her hitai-ate hadn't caught fire, so hot did her face feel. Sure, she was flushed from having to spar against Naruto. No one could blame her for that. The boy was fast, strong, and had a gift for infighting. Still, the position they had ended the fight in didn't help, what with Naruto straddling the poor girl, right elbow against her hitai-ate, and his left hand holding her right arm by the wrist. Her left palm was frozen in a strike to a tenketsu under his floating ribs…the spar hadn't gone all Naruto's way, but he was the one who had ended up on top…her cheeks flamed a bit more.

Honestly, if she blushed any harder, she was going to bruise.

Kurenai clapped her hands once as Naruto climbed off Hinata and offered her a hand up. "Very good, you three. You'll be glad to hear that my opinion is, as your jounin instructor and final tester, that Team 8 is ready for active duty at the D-rank level, and has the potential to be a great asset to the forces of Konohagakure no Sato. From this point on, you are full Shinobi of the Leaf."

The three stared at her in varying levels of confusion. Shino didn't really _look_ confused, but Kurenai would hate to play poker against him. Hinata seemed to be trying to remember some information she had forgotten. And Naruto…was at a total loss. "Ah…sensei…"

"What was that for?" she asked rhetorically, with a slight smile. At Naruto's nod, she went on. "Graduating from the Academy does not guarantee a place as an active duty shinobi, Naruto. The jounin who are assigned to lead genin teams do not have to take the teams assigned, and if they don't take the team, the genin are sent back to the academy for a year of remedial courses before they get a chance at active-duty again. A great deal of aspiring ninja drop out then and there. I won't lie to you, most ninja that go back for a year after graduation remain at the rank of genin for much longer that a team that's taken on. Such as you three." At this she gave them an unguarded smile. "It is my considered opinion that the three of you, judging by what I have seen, and by Iruka's reports, have enough potential that it would be stupid, verging on treasonous not to take you on."

Shino looked pleased, she thought, though his expression was easily lost alongside the very visible chord she had struck in Naruto and Hinata's psyches. Though, to her ruby eyes, there seemed to be an undertone of disbelief in it. Well, she should have expected that with Hinata…Naruto as well, she supposed. A flare of anger sparked in her breast at the thought, but she pushed it aside. The past was past, and starting tomorrow, she was going to help them start believing, really believing in themselves. Her mouth took a harder set. "Don't get me wrong, you've got a lot of training ahead of you before you're ready to be called a recon raider team, but I get the feeling you three are going to become legends, if you're willing to put in the work. Now, you three are to meet me here at noon tomorrow. Bring the ninja gear you have. We'll be doing an equipment check, along with setting your training routines. Equipping will probably follow, since I doubt that you've got a full recon raider loadout ready." Well, the Aburame boy might. His family provided a great deal of recon raider nin. "Got it? If so, dismissed!"

Team 8 dispersed, walking home to their various homes, wondering what the future might bring.

* * *

A/N: I'm sorry this chapter took so long, but writing a satisfactory fight while using the Jyuuken depicted in the manga and anime proved near impossible. Hence why there really isn't one. And matching Krav Maga against the style assigned Shino didn't go easily either. (It should be an easy one to guess this time.) On top of that, as I wrote the stuff around it, I felt like I was just parroting stuff I had seen before.

So. I'm thinking of taking all of the really good stuff that I had planned for this story and placing it in another plotline, one that's actually probably better suited to telling the story I wanted to. I'll be placing the first chapter of it up at much the same time as I post this, and I'd ask that you go and take a look at it, because I'm not sure I can get this story to quite act the way I want it to, not while maintaining a high standard of writing. Unless there's an absolutely overwhelmingly negative response to the second story, I'll probably be switching my attention over to it.

On another note, I am in the market for a Naruto-fandom beta reader. Anyway, yeah, that's the news.


	4. Chapter 4

Nindo: Way of the Twelve

* * *

A Naruto Fic

* * *

A/N: Yes, I know that I said I was abandoning this story and changing my focus over to what became Clan Eyes, a story that's gotten about as much positive response as this one, if not more. That being said, Gryphon Turboclaw's review got me thinking enough to figure out a way that I could make this story work, rather than trying to merge its elements into Clan Eyes. Both stories will have similar themes and characterizations at times, but both will have unique plots. Hopefully it'll work out well. By the way, no one's guessed Shino's taijutsu style's real world base yet. And along those lines, Guess that Taijutsu is now a cross-story event. Any mentioned taijutsu can be guessed at. The winners will be announced in the next chapter of the story they submitted their guess for. The full list of styles mentioned can be found on my author profile, along with the clues for each style so far, and the winners.

I'd also like to thank my new pre-reader, Krillin Fan, for his excellent, and quick debut performance on this chapter.

* * *

Kurenai made her way to the Hokage's tower upon departing Training Ground 17. She had a report to file, after all. The chuunin guards cleared her up to the room where the Hokage and some of the Academy instructors were waiting to see which teams would be cleared for active duty. The Hokage spread his hands as she stood at attention in front of him. "Well, what is your opinion on Team 8, Yuuhei-san?" asked the old man in a mild tone.

Holding up her right hand in half of the tiger seal, she took a deep breath. "Per my authority as Team 8's jounin instructor, I have activated Team 8 as a unit of the Shinobi of the Leaf."

"So noted," said the Hokage with a formal nod. "Team 8 will start D-rank missions at your discretion. Is there anything else?"

Kurenai let her stance loosen and let her right hand drop to her side. "Nothing other than to say that I think they have incredible potential as a recon raider team. If they're willing to work hard"

Sarutobi chuckled. "I'm sure your sensei will be happy to hear his son lives up to your standards. And as for their willingness to work hard…" he trailed off with a smile.

Kurenai just about fell over in shock. "Shino is…of course." Palm met hitai-ate with a flat smack. "How could I have missed that?" _Teijo was right. Too much time away from the complicated missions dulls one's edge._ _I'd better involve myself in the drills too…though I get the feeling riding hard on these three will do plenty to get me thinking again._ "Well, at least he'll have the basics when he comes tomorrow. Now I just need to talk to Gai about mentoring Naruto in taijutsu…" she muttered to herself as she headed out the door.

There was a choking sound from over in the collection of teachers. Kurenai turned to look at who was being disrespectful towards her student, but was surprised to see the hazy-eyed taijutsu instructor pounding on his chest and putting down a cup of tea. Composing himself, the older man turned to her. "Please tell me that you aren't serious."

Kurenai blinked. Why would a man who seemed perfectly willing to give Naruto a fair chance, heck, who even showed the boy some favor, not want Naruto training under Konoha's most renowned non-Hyuuga taijutsu specialist? "Excuse me?" She turned to face the man. "It was my impression that one of Naruto's greatest strengths was his taijutsu. Didn't he train extensively under you? Why shouldn't I have Gai tutor him?"

He pinched the bridge of his nose, screwing his eyes shut. "I should have expected this. You haven't seen Gai fight much, have you?"

Kurenai couldn't quite figure out where this was going for the life of her. But no, she hadn't seen Gai fight much. He had been a member of a heavy combat squad, and graduated earlier than she had. Their paths had never really crossed in the field. "No. Why?"

"Look," said the instructor, spreading his hands. "Naruto's greatest asset from a taijutsu standpoint is a sort of natural genius for infighting along with a fine sense of tactical maneuvering. It's the reason I taught him _Sessen_.You've probably noticed that while it does incorporate kicks, the primary focus is on striking at grappling range, which a kick is not suited for. Gai's personal style uses kicks as a primary weapon, and hand strikes as a backup. It's the reverse of _Sessen_, and not suited to Naruto's natural talent."

Kurenai's brows drew together in concentration. Taijutsu was really not her specialty, but she was a jounin, and she was a recon raider. "Okay, I understand. Gai might be one of the best, but his style is unsuited for Naruto." The instructor nodded. "So should I be finding him a specialist in Burning Embers?" she asked, naming a prominent Konoha infighting style.

"_Yoen_? It's not bad, in fact it's quite good for striking, but it's suited for a slighter frame than Naruto's and is primarily defensive. It's why you see so many ninjutsu or throwing weapon specialists in the kunoichi ranks using it."

"So…no," translated Kurenai with a bit of exasperation. "Do you have any suggestions as to what I should do?"

The man's expression looked positively smug at that. Kurenai realized that he'd been giving her a little bit of a lesson. Even a jounin had things to learn, she knew, but in front of the Hokage, of all people… there was no point in losing her cool. "Well, I don't see any reason why I couldn't get up earlier in the morning and stay up a little later to contribute to the growth of a promising genin. In fact, I think I can provide him with instruction in a melee weapon, like you recon raiders prefer to carry."

She smiled, a little tartly, but the man did know his stuff. "Thank you, Suteru-san. I'll tell the boy to seek you out after the team meeting tomorrow."

The older man just smiled.

* * *

Aburame Shino had been surprised a number of times in the last day. First, he had been surprised that Uzumaki Naruto…who wore _orange_ of all colors, had been assigned to a recon raider team. The boy was surprisingly good at taijutsu, and he had always known by way of his colony that the boy's chakra reserves were frankly enormous, but those skills seemed to say he was perfectly suited for a place on a heavy combat team. Yes, Shino could see that the boy's _inventive_ nature, previously expressed through pranking, could be quite useful, but the boy was loud, brash…and he wore orange. Somehow that jumpsuit's color couldn't leave Shino's mind. He supposed it could be a ploy to get an enemy to underestimate the boy, but once again, that was a heavy combat team tactic. And his unexpected graduation…well, he supposed that he could deal with that.

Hyuuga Hinata had been less of a surprise, but still a bit of a shock. His father had always said that the Hyuuga bloodline's famed Byakugan would be a great asset to any recon raider team lucky enough to get it, both for it's scouting and combat potential. Hinata, however, seemed to suffer from a confidence problem…and she had an enormous crush on Naruto, which Shino could not understand for the life of him. That wasn't exactly wonderful for any ninja. And he couldn't quite understand how a Hyuuga, who were almost exclusively assigned to heavy or light combat squads was placed on a recon raider squad. There had only been one exception to the rule in Konoha's history, a clan disgrace with inferior eyes. Granted, the man had done extremely well and was said to have joined ANBU's hunter nin division, but it wasn't a comforting thought that the only previous Hyuuga recon raider had been a clan disgrace.

His sensei's identity was a bit of a shock as well, once he had connected her name with some comments his father had once named. One of his father's students…but that didn't matter, so he had simply pushed his surprise down and done his best to follow orders.

As Shino lay down to sleep he couldn't quite tell what the future was going to bring. But all he could do was to serve Konoha as the best shinobi he could be.

* * *

Kurenai clucked her tongue as she looked at her genin's equipment. It looked like all of them would be needing to get supplies in town.

Shino was best off. He had a backpack with a support frame and plenty of room. Scroll holsters and pockets for other equipment dotted its surface. His jacket, a darker version of the one he had worn at the Academy, which many people thought was merely the Aburame 'style', had a number of inner pockets, useful for discrete carry. He also wore a harness over his simple black t-shirt, which he explained was for carrying a melee weapon, though he had none as of yet. A standard issue canvas carry pouch attached to his belt behind his right hip, divided into slots for kunai, shuriken, explosive tags, medical supplies, and scrolls. His right thigh had the standard kunai and shuriken holster strapped to it over the traditional bandage wrapping. His pants tucked into a pair of boots, rather than the typical shinobi shorts or short pants with sandals. He oddly had no weapons with him other than the ones in his thigh holster, which were made of good steel. Various and sundry pieces of equipment that could be useful in the field partially filled his pack: a sleeping bag, rope and wire, a tent, and other such things. He would need weapons and some flexible protection to wear under the coat.

Hinata didn't have a very good pack, and her field equipment wasn't as extensive as Shino's, but it was of better quality than the Aburame's, as were her weapons. Her thigh holster and carry pouch were both of excellent quality, and well stocked. Her clothing however, consisted of sandals, short pants, a light shirt with mesh inserts in a few places, and her hoodie. And while she had very good supplies, she wasn't carrying enough of them.

Naruto…where to begin? Well, he was wearing orange, sandals, and had actually gone so far as to roll up his pant legs so as to mimic the short pant style. She did have one good thing to say about his clothing, though. The heavy fabric it was made of could offer some minor protection. His holster and carry pouch looked second-hand, as did most of his field equipment. His backpack, though, wasn't much beyond what a civilian child might carry their books to school in. Most of his equipment was carried in a large sack with a cinch top. And his weapons…it wasn't pretty at all.

Kurenai looked back up from the gear on the ground to her three genin. "I imagine you're wondering why we're doing this first, not training or doing a D-class mission." Naruto nodded as Hinata pressed her fingers together, inclining her head just a bit. Shino, however, was his stoic self. Kurenai thought that he probably knew, but she didn't want to elevate him above the others, even if he were her sensei's son. "There's an old saying among the recon raider squads about mission planning, actually, and it relates to this. 'Amateurs talk tactics, dilettantes talk strategy, professionals talk logistics.'"

Naruto cocked his head to the side. "Ah…"

Kurenai gave a look to encourage him to go on.

Naruto did. "I don't quite get it, sensei. They always told us at the Academy we should have a strong tactical plan and an overall strategy in mind."

Kurenai nodded. "They weren't wrong either."

Naruto looked confused, and just a tad bit annoyed. Hinata spoke up just a bit. "So…why?"

"The saying, you mean?" asked Kurenai rhetorically. Hinata nodded. Kurenai held up three fingers, folding them back into her palm as she made her points. "Strategy is an overall thing, and is actually decided by the mission orders. If your mission is to give close escort to a VIP, that's your strategy. Close escort. Technically that's operational use of forces, and strategy is expressed in what missions are undertaken. In any case, strategy is way over the head of most ninja." The first finger went down. "Tactics are how you actually accomplish your goal. In our close escort example, we might employ the tactic of having Shino push a barrier of sensory kikai bugs, Hinata scanning with her Byakugan at intervals, with the lot of us near the VIP, in a crowd of Naruto's _Kage Bunshin, _all under a genjutsu to fool most observers. With me so far?" Nods answered her. The second finger went down. "Good. Now let's say we're on a long mission, and we're dealing with a heavy combat squad that is guarding some information we need to steal. It's in a cave, and they're close together, guarding the one entrance. Worse, they're adept at seeing through genjutsu, so we can't just fool them. What do we do?"

Naruto opened his mouth to suggest getting in close and fighting it out, but that didn't seem to be the right answer. He thought. "We could scatter them with explosive tagged kunai, couldn't we? That would open up a hole so that we could send someone in to grab the information, right?"

Kurenai pointed at him with the single remaining finger. "We could indeed, assuming that we had both kunai and explosive tags. But on a long mission or one against long odds, without proper thought put to logistics before hand, you're likely to run out of the things you need to put tactics into effect. Beyond that, our missions are often fluid, as recon raiders. We must be able to adapt. And it's always good to bear in mind that no plan survives contact with the enemy. You three will be in situations that force you to come up with tactics on the fly. And you'll become good at it, too, unless I'm completely off base. So while it's good to have a tactical playbook handy, the first thing we're going to worry about is logistics. Because when it comes down to it, we want to be ready to use any tactic in the book, and likely some out of it." She smiled at the looks of comprehension on their faces. "Well then. I'd say it's time to go shopping."

* * *

Their first stop was a clothing and supply store run by a retired shinobi. A veteran of the Iwa War, he had apparently been caught by a Doton jutsu which had crushed his right leg, twisting it into a shape beyond repair. "A new genin team, huh?" His lips twisted in contemplation as he looked over the three teenagers. "Let's see…what kind of team are you?" He looked up at Kurenai, who had entered behind the three, and his eyebrows shot towards his hairline. "Recon raider? Looks like we've got work to do." The man, still solidly built, levered himself up off his stool and limped towards the back of the store.

The three genin blinked, then followed. Kurenai just smiled. She may not have gotten any wide-spread acclaim for her part in the Kumo War, but she could still trust a member of the community to recognize her. It was only a few minutes before Shino joined her at the front of the store. He had picked up a vest composed of articulated strips of boiled leather with reinforcing strips of steel. A matched set of vambraces completed his purchases here. Kurenai nodded in approval. "Those will do fine, Shino. Pick up a war cloak if you don't have one already."

Shino nodded. "You may wish to go talk to Naruto. He is being…difficult about the thought of giving up his current clothing."

Kurenai blinked. "Ah. Thank you." She headed towards the back of the store. When she came into view of the shopkeeper, he was in an intense staring match with Naruto. Hinata was standing off to the side, poking her fingers together and looking as if she was trying to pluck up the courage to say something pacifying.

"Orange will get your entire team killed! You can't hide orange in any conceivable environment."

"I like my clothes! Why should I have to wear something boring?"

"What seems to be the trouble?" asked Kurenai.

"Your genin seems to think his current clothing is fit for field work, Yuuhei-san," sighed the shopkeeper.

Kurenai pursed her lips. "Naruto, your clothing would be fine on a heavy combat or maybe even a light combat team. But for a recon raider team, day-glo orange like that is a dangerous liability. There's a time and place for being highly visible, but stealth is vitally important to our team." She let her expression soften just a bit. "I don't mind if you wear orange around Konoha, but in the field, for the safety of the team, I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist that you get new mission gear." Naruto looked to the side, obviously in turmoil. Somehow, Kurenai got the feeling that it wasn't about the orange. The jounin cocked her head slightly to the side.

"I don't have the money for it," muttered Naruto under his breath. "Especially not if I'm going to have to buy all the other stuff Shino has." Hinata let out a little gasp and took a half-step forward before withdrawing back into herself, pressing her fingers together again.

"Ah." Kurenai let the situation tumble over a couple of times in her head. The shopkeeper had adopted a similar expression. A quick heated glance at the shopkeeper, and Naruto was staring at the floor, his body language not too far off from Hinata's.

"What's your shopping list, kid?" asked the shopkeeper, breaking the strained silence.

Naruto looked at Kurenai, who sighed. "Full recon raider kit." That, she knew, wasn't cheap. "Minus the dedicated close combat weapon."

The shopkeeper nodded. "Right. Save your ryo for the weapons. I assume you'll be taking them to that shop, Yuuhei-san?" She nodded, and the shopkeeper turned back to Naruto. "I'm going to provide you with the full kit. You just need to promise me two things."

Naruto's blue eyes were wide but he nodded, ready to listen.

"One, if my products hold up to your needs in the field, that I get your patronage." Naruto nodded. "Good. That's me being a shopkeeper. Now for the important promise. I want your word that you will become the best damn recon raider you can possibly be and make the name of the community shine in Konoha."

Kurenai could have sworn Naruto's eyes were shining with tears. "I promise."

The man just smiled. "And if you manage to break the streak of heavy combat Hokages…"

Kurenai's smile grew as Naruto's body language changed to radiating boundless confidence. But she missed the sudden change in his eyes that Hinata saw, like a gust of wind fanning a blue flame. "I will be Hokage! Believe it!" exclaimed Naruto, his sapphire eyes bright.

"Then let's get you kitted out."

* * *

Shino's eyebrow rose above the rim of his sunglasses as Naruto walked out of the back of the shop, clad in recon raider's kit. His feet were in dark brown boots that incorporated metal reinforced leather greaves with a flexible soft leather connection where a standard ninja sandal would end. Dark blue pants were tucked into the greaves, slightly bloused, and Shino could tell they ran all the way down to the ankle. A new weapon holster rode on his right hip, while his old one occupied the same position on his left hip. The Aburame imagined that he would find the same situation with the carry pouches if Naruto was to turn around. A tight black t-shirt covered his torso, certain areas thicker than others…obviously light armor. He wore a raider jacket open over it, a slightly heavier model than Shino's and lacking the high collar, but with a pouch on the inside for a head wrap.

As the Aburame boy watched, Naruto swung his new backpack off his shoulders, one much like Shino had brought to the team meeting. It landed with a dull thud, telling Shino that it was rather full. That was good. They would need to be well equipped for their coming role. Judging by the determined look on the blonde's face, something important had gone on in the back of the shop. The brown-haired genin noted this, but said nothing, preferring the silence.

Suddenly Naruto's head cocked to the side. Shino's eyebrows drew together just a bit as he tried to figure out just what the blonde was staring at. The Aburame could have sworn that Naruto's lips formed the words "Is that…"

They didn't get any further before a wild-haired genin with red triangles on his cheeks slammed into the blonde, a furry white streak accompanying it, barking up a storm.

"WE MADE IT!" yelled Kiba.

* * *

A/N: I imagine some of you are wondering what is up with Kiba. Fraid that you're going to just have to wait until the next update to find out. Well, at least it's not too much of a cliffhanger. I know this isn't exactly the best chapter, but it needed to be done to move the plot along. I promise. It should get better. On the other hand, this is proof that Nindo is being continued so...meh. Next update on this story will be after Clan Eyes. Hope you enjoyed, please review, and go ahead and try and guess those taijutsu.


	5. Chapter 5

Nindo: Way of the Twelve

* * *

A Naruto Fic

* * *

A/N: Both the Aburame Family style and _Keitai no Nesshin Shou_ have been identified, by Hentaifan and a person who whishes for their name not to be revealed, respectively. Shino's clan style is based on the Northern Mantis Fist, while KnNS is based on a combination of Ba Gua Zhang and Xing Yi Quan. Gryphon Turboclaw also seems to have identified the Mantis Fist, but after Hentaifan. Kiba's comments on 'chakra reserves' are an homage to Edric Loto's The Hyuuga Way. It's a very interesting fic if you're interested in feudal Japan. NaruHina, too. Unfortunately, it seems dead. Shino's choice of weapons is partially inspired by huntsvilletiger's Faith of the Heart, even though it's Naruto who carries them in that story…the other part…well, you'll see.

* * *

Naruto was not in a new position. Back in the Academy, he had been pinned to the ground as Kiba straddled him. The difference this time was Kiba wasn't assaulting him, and had a look of pure bliss on his face.

It was a little disturbing, to be honest.

"What the…ack! Stoppit Akamaru!" demanded Naruto as the little white dog licked him, tail wagging. "What the hell, Kiba?"

"We made it, man, we made it! First team to ever get passed by the guy. Team 7 is active!"

Naruto grinned. "Nice! Great job! Now would you get off me?"

Kiba blinked. "Oh yeah, sorry man." He stood, and Naruto sprung to his feet. "So, you guys active?"

Naruto nodded. "We're getting all kitted out."

"I can see," said Kiba, looking over Naruto's new uniform. "Nice threads. Much better than that day-glo orange…oh baby, those are some chakra reserves!" Kiba's attention was fixed on a point behind Naruto's shoulder.

"Huh?"

The Inuzuka spun the blonde around, so that he could see Hinata. For a miracle, the girl wasn't poking her fingers together as the two friends' stares made her blush. Of course, that was mostly because she was holding her old hoodie. She had purchased a kunoichi-cut version of recon raider kit much like Naruto's, though in charcoal gray where Naruto's was a dark blue. The jacket also looked to be made of lighter material than Naruto and Shino's. The kunoichi had it open for the moment, affording the boys a view of the Hyuuga heiress's torso, one which was surprisingly well developed under a t-shirt similar to Naruto's. The double shoulder harness for some weapon or another just accented things. Her blush redoubled and he chin sank below the fabric of her neck-worn hitai-ate as she stared at the floor, drawing her hoodie up in front of her body.

"I see you have acquired your recon raider kit," said Shino in a bland tone, breaking the tension.

Kiba turned to Naruto. "I repeat, man. You are one lucky son of a bitch."

Naruto gave Kiba a punch that was a little harder than strictly friendly.

Hinata fainted.

* * *

A little while later, Team 8 was leaving the store and heading for the weapons shop. Kiba had decided to tag along and was chatting animatedly about the test that Kakashi had put the cell through.

"He made you wait for HOW long?" asked Naruto, incredulous.

Kiba spat to the side. "Three hours the first day, and it was even worse today. And what's worse, he gives us this obviously fake excuse." The Inuzuka shook his head. "Man, that pisses me off."

"That's rough, man," commiserated Naruto.

"It does seem conduct unbecoming of a jounin," put in Shino.

Naruto could almost hear the needle on Kiba's mental record scratch across the metaphorical grooves as the Inuzuka spun to look at Shino. "Aburame? Did you just say something that wasn't in response to a question?" Kiba shook his head a bit, his jaw loose. "Ow!" Naruto had hit him again. "Would you stop that?"

"Would you rather I rolled up a newspaper and bopped you on the nose?" quipped Naruto. "Anyway, what happened next?"

Kiba looked at his friend strangely, even as Hinata and Kurenai let small smiles spread across their lips. Shino seemed impassive. "Well, he gives us a time limit and tells us that we each need to get a bell from him if we want to pass right? But there's only two bells!"

Kurenai smiled at this, knowing Kakashi's preferred test for genin teams. Naruto winced. "So what'd you do?"

"Guy tells us that we'll need to come at him with an intent to kill if we want a chance of getting the bells, then tells us to start. So the other two hide and everything, and I send Akamaru off to get out of the way and find the others. Then it's _Shikyaku no jutsu_ and I see if I can get em, right?" Naruto nodded. "He kicked my ass. Felt like I was up against Suteru-sensei." At this Naruto winced. The old man liked him but he had never 'gone easy' in training. Sure, he didn't use lethal moves, but he didn't let someone win. You had to _work_ to even clip him. "Though he never tried to poke me in the ass. _Sennen Goroshi _my…"

"I think that's enough of that rant," put in Kurenai. "There are ladies present."

Kiba of course, did not have the decency to look abashed. He was smart enough to keep the "And how" on the tip of his tongue to himself. "So once I get myself out of the river I had to jump in to dodge that…" He bit his tongue to hold back what he wanted to say. "…Yeah. I set off an obvious trap with a shuriken, but he's already got the bell he left as bait by the time I could get there and I didn't want another one of those…" he shuddered. "So I go to meet up with Akamaru, and we watch sensei put the fangirl under a genjutsu." The little dog barked and Kiba rolled his eyes. "I tell you, it was pathetic." He adopted a falsetto. "Sasuke, Sasuke! No!" The back of his hand slapped into his other palm as he went back to his normal voice. "Faint."

Hinata looked away and towards the ground, pushing her fingers together. Kurenai frowned. "There are some pretty horrifying genjutsu, Kiba. It's not hard to drive someone catatonic with skill and a little creativity."

Kiba shrugged. "I guess it could have been a really bad one. I think he called it _Magen Narakumi no jutsu_."

"Never mind," muttered Kurenai, half-closing her eyes in mental pain. Despite the jutsu's nasty name, it wasn't much of anything, so far as genjutsu went. "Go on."

"So I grab Pinky…couldn't just leave her there. Then I watch duck-butt head take on sensei. Got taken with a _Kawarimi no jutsu_ when he opened with thrown weapons, just straight up logged. Then he tried taijutsu. He was alright, I guess, but sensei was a lot better. Must've pissed him off, 'cause then he tries to torch sensei." Kiba chuckled. "Course, that's no good, and sensei just pulls him underground with something called _Shinjuu Zanshu no jutsu_." Kiba and Akamaru quite literally barked with laughter. "Emo boy's head is sticking out of the ground, helpless. I tell you, it was hard to resist having Akamaru go over and do a little marking, you know?"

Naruto gave a devilish grin. "You should have. You soooo should have."

"Kinda wish I did. So I wake up Pinky, then I go and tell him what's up. You know, that Kakashi-sensei's way out of any of our reaches, and that we need to work together if we want to get the bells. Pinky's going on about how there's only two, and emo-boy's going on about he's an Uchiha…and I'm about ready to knock Pinky back out and do Akamaru's job on duck-butt myself. I mean, yeah, there's only two bells but we might as well get them as a group and figure out who deserves them after the fact."

Kurenai frowned. It seemed like Kiba had grasped part of Kakashi's test, but his solution for what to do with the bells wasn't exactly perfect. Though if one extrapolated…work together as a team to accomplish a mission, then figure out how the credit is divided upon getting back. That was pretty much how things went in the real world.

It wasn't the _ideal_ though.

She tuned back in to Kiba's story. "…so sensei ties them to the posts and tells us that I'm the only one who should go back to the Academy. Tells the other two that they should give up on being shinobi altogether."

Naruto laughed out loud. "Bet the bastard loved hearing that."

"I wouldn't be surprised if he got rope burn trying to get loose. Think I heard a molar snap too. Way he was clenching his jaw, it wouldn't shock me."

"A molar?" asked Shino with almost an air of curiosity.

"Yeah, it has a pretty distinctive sound," said Kiba off-handedly. "Anyway, he tells us that we'd end up on the KIA monument without a doubt if he took us on as we were now, no matter how much potential Sasuke and I showed in the test."

"I thought you passed," said Naruto, confused.

"We did," returned Kiba with a bit of heat. "Anyway, he tells us that apparently my performance had a hint of what he was looking for, so he was going to give us a second chance. Talks to us about the fact that people are put on three man teams for a reason…I tell ya, Akamaru and I were rolling our eyes at this. I can't believe that no one before us got the point. Work together, see past yourself…ugh. Basic shit."

Kurenai covered her smile with a hand. Indeed, to an Inuzuka, who worked with a partner as a matter of course, and who lived in a clan that was more of a pack, it was basic principles. That being said, few ninja had that upbringing. The red-eyed jounin would have bet that if Kiba had been raised in another clan, he would have had just as much trouble as any other. That being said, she didn't think she would have minded teaching the Inuzuka boy, had things gone differently.

"So?" asked Naruto impatiently.

"So he cuts down Sasuke, and gives the two of us food. Tells the two of us not to feed Pinky or we fail the second chance."

"You fed her, didn't you?" asked Naruto. "That's how you passed."

Kiba nodded. "Yup. I'll give Pinky this much, though. She wouldn't accept the food until we told her she'd be worse than useless if she didn't get some food in her. Anyway, so Kakashi-sensei tells us that we pass after trying to scare us with a bunch of smoke and killer intent."

"He was looking for a display of teamwork after explicitly stating that teamwork was the point? I find it hard to believe that there was not a team that passed before yours."

Kiba shrugged. "Eh, I don't get it either, but there you have it. So what'd…" He gestured towards their jounin instructor.

"Kurenai-sensei," filled in Hinata shyly.

"Yeah. What'd she put you through?"

"I gave them a basic skills evaluation," said Kurenai. "I am walking right here, you know."

Kiba blinked. "No test?"

"Not the same type, no. I was looking for potential and seeing what I would need to teach. No genin squad comes out of the Academy ready for duty as a recon raider squad. And I'm of the opinion that teamwork needs to be built, not simply tested for. But Kakashi and I had different teachers and different specialties." She looked at her genin, who seemed a bit lost, and perhaps a bit annoyed…or in Shino's case, stoic. "It doesn't mean that I wasn't testing you three, just that it was a different way of testing, and for a different thing."

Shino gave a bit of a nod, Hinata looked thoughtful, and Naruto pursed his lips for a few seconds. "I think I understand. But sensei, how much further is it to the weapons store? We've been walking for a while now."

Kurenai smiled. "Oh, just around the corner."

Naruto's face lit up. He couldn't help but like weapon shops. Honestly, what ninja couldn't?

* * *

Hinata was a bit surprised at the quality of the goods offered in the weapons shop. It was much smaller than the forges normally frequented by Hyuuga members, and the maker's mark visible on some of the blades was unfamiliar to her, though some part of her mind nagged that she had seen it before…somewhere.

Her fingers brushed over a number of hilts absent-mindedly as she watched her teammates test the stock. Naruto seemed a little put out by Kurenai telling him that he would be getting his dedicated close-combat weapon later, but seemed to be drowning his sorrows in playing with a pair of long and unusually slender kunai, which seemed to be somewhat of a specialty of this shop. She had never seen them before…no, that wasn't right. One Branch House member had used them in the past, hadn't they? Well, certainly in no other shop.

Naruto, still spinning a kunai in each hand, turned to Shino, who had been testing out a number of paired weapons since they had entered the shop, including some very odd ones, such as the strange swords with hooked heads. If she wasn't mistaken, Shino had actually seemed disappointed that he didn't find a pair of those weapons that fit him. "Oi, Shino, you found something yet?"

"Perhaps," allowed the boy, putting yet another set of paired weapons through a series of cuts and parries. This choice almost seemed plain, a pair of single-edged blades roughly the same length of Shino's forearms. The blades were straight, though the upper third had a rounded curve on one side, giving the blades a tip. The handles were fully enclosed by a simple bar, which curved up against the blade's spine. "Yes. These will do perfectly."

Kurenai chuckled. "Choosing one of _Yoen_'s weapons, Shino?"

The stoic boy was unphased by what seemed like gentle teasing on Kurenai's part. "My clan has adopted this weapon into our taijutsu style. They are extremely useful weapons for a ninja, especially with the modification of leaving only the bottom third of the blade unsharpened."

Naruto looked at the weapons. Nothing flashy, but they looked like they would get the job done…much like Shino. "So what are they called?"

"_Yoen_ practitioners refer to them as _Baat Jaam Do_," said Kurenai.

Hinata looked up at their teacher. "That isn't in _Nihongou_, is it sensei?"

Kurenai smiled kindly at Hinata. "I should have expected that you'd catch that. No, that's in either _Hanyu _or _Zhongwen_. I'm afraid I can't remember which one right now."

"What's it mean?" asked Naruto.

"Depending on who you're asking, either Eight Chopping or Eight Slashing Knives."

Shino nodded. "Yes. But my clan refers to them as butterfly swords."

Naruto fell to the ground laughing. Kiba followed.

* * *

Shino still seemed a little miffed when Kiba waved good-bye to Naruto and trotted off towards the Inuzuka clan compound with Akamaru riding his head. "I do not see why you were laughing at the blades' name."

"Impossible not to, man," chuckled Naruto as he spun one of the long kunai about by the ring pommel. "Butterfly swords…priceless."

Hinata walked behind the other two, clutching her new weapon to her chest. In the confusion of Naruto and Kiba laughing at Shino, Kurenai had handed an odd rope-dart to her, one with chakra-conductive wire embedded in the rope and a blue horsehair tassel in place of the normal flag placed after the dart. At her inquiring look, Kurenai had just smiled gently and informed her that she had known a person who had used one. That had made her feel a little better, but not much. Hyuuga clan members shunned the use of weapons outside of kunai for deflection and explosive tag delivery along with sparing use of shuriken for misdirection. In some ways the Hyuuga were positively samurai-esque, with their straightforward taijutsu style. She knew that her teacher wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary, but her father might not like it. Absorbed in thought, she didn't notice that they had come to a stop and bumped into Naruto's back.

Amazing how she could never leap back quite that fast from a strike in practice. Her fingers tightened around the rope as she looked down at the ground, blushing and stuttering out an apology.

"That's okay, Hinata-chan," said Naruto, shrugging.

Kurenai's voice cut through her blush. "Well, you're all looking like recon raiders now, so it's time to start training like one, and that's a full-time thing. I'll be honest with you, most teams will only be assigning training to time when they're together." She held up a hand to forestall the question that Naruto seemed ready to ask. "That's not to say that other ninja don't train on their own time, possibly with their families. But that's their choice. As recon raiders, you don't have the choice of slacking off and ignoring personal training time. All of our assigned time will be spent with team exercises, and you will need to train on your own time to be good enough to be considered a member of the community." The genin looked up at her, silent. "Now, Shino, your clan is one of the backbones of the community, so I'd like you to not change your current training plans, unless it is to up their intensity. Your father knows much about what you are about to go through." She turned to her blonde haired student. "Naruto, I've arranged for you to continue your training with Suteru-sensei for _Sessen_ and he has further agreed to teach you a close-combat weapon. He's agreed to meet you early mornings, at the Academy for your first lesson, at least. When not working with him, you are to visit the Konoha ninja library and find jutsu to work on. Vet each one with me before attempting them." Naruto nodded, grimacing a bit. "Hinata, you are to continue work on _Jyuuken_, but extra work on improving your eyes should be a part of your training. I'd like you to come with me as well, after I dismiss the boys. I have a trainer I'd like you to talk to. Understood?" She got nods from each of her genin. "Very well. Dismissed. I'll meet you at the same time and place tomorrow."

* * *

Hinata was more than a little surprised when Kurenai ended up taking her to ANBU's public headquarters. As was she when her new sensei strode right up to the desk, bold as one could please in the lizard-masked face of the ANBU that sat there.

"Jounin Yuuhi Kurenai, in command of Genin Team 8, Reconnaissance Raider. I'd like to talk with Altair, if possible."

The ANBU nodded, face unreadable behind the mask. "Eagle-Hunter-8 is practicing with Cat-Operations-2 at the moment. I will escort you to the training field." With that, the ANBU stood and led them on a confusing course that seemed designed to confuse them as to where they were headed, and surely must have doubled the time it took them to reach the sparsely wooded training field. On it two ANBU members were battling. One, a kunoichi with a cat mask and long purple hair, was wielding what looked like a standard ANBU straight-bladed sword. The other was male, and had an eagle mask. Jet-black hair was gathered into a short queue, visible behind the mask, and they were fighting with the same sort of weapon that Hinata had bought. It was certainly interesting to watch as the rope wrapped and unwrapped about the black-haired ANBU's limbs and torso, sending the dart flying at the other, sometimes in an arc, sometimes in a stab.

Hinata watched, transfixed as the black-haired ANBU kept his sparring partner at long range, not giving them a chance to close and pit the simple sword against the more complex rope dart. Then a masterful deflection, flat of blade to base of dart, let the kunoichi rush forward and strike at the male with her sword, a blow which was caught by a taut rope, held stretched between two hands. The fibers parted under the blade's keen edge, exposing the chakra-conductive wire underneath that had stopped the blade.

As the eagle-masked ANBU crossed his arms over to make a loop and trap the blade, his sparring partner drew her blade back, only to thrust it back forward into a stab. The rope-dart wielder sprang backwards, pulling the dart along with him. The kunoichi dropped her blade's tip towards the ground and turned as she raised her right elbow, knocking the dart off of the grazing strike it would have made at her flank. Recovering her original facing, she moved forward in a rising diagonal strike, which was deflected by a slap from what appeared to be a spear haft formed by the rope, as the dart functioned as the head. A stab transferred to a spinning slash as the kunoichi retreated before the spear, then moved in behind the arc of the slash, blocking a strike to the side of her head by the spear butt. She pushed out, to clear the male's weapon, then ducked under the turning kick he launched and rolled to avoid the overhand slash with the spear.

Rising, she moved forward into a cut at the spear wielder's shoulder, only to have her blade knocked out of line as he laid the haft of the spear across her forearms and smashed his body into her in an explosive motion. She skidded back, still on her feet, noting a shallow scratch across the eagle-masked ANBU's chest armor. With proper use of _Hien_, the blow could have laid the other ninja open. Of course, the full-body check she had taken contained its own killing properties that were pulled from training. "We have visitors, Eagle-Hunter-8. And I believe that we have both ended up dead again. I will see you next time." At a nod from the masked man, the purple-haired kunoichi sheathed her blade and vanished in a _Shunshin_.

Kurenai let a small smile cross her lips. "Impressive as always, Altair."

The eagle-masked ANBU inclined his head slightly. "Many thanks, jounin, but I fear Cat-Operations-2 is far better than I. It is rare for me to manage better than a draw, and my weapon holds many advantages over the sword." The spear relaxed back into a rope dart, almost seeming to lengthen back to it's full…no it _did_ lengthen. Hinata suspected some sealing work. The ANBU wound the weapon about his torso with easy movements. "May I inquire as to your purpose here?"

Kurenai nodded and put one hand on Hinata's shoulder, gently pushing her forward. "I've just taken on a fresh recon raider team, and I thought Hinata here would be suited to the chakra-conductive rope dart. I was hoping that you might be able to teach her."

The ANBU seemed almost uneasy. "My assignments might mean that her training would be compromised by long periods of time without direct instruction." His mask turned towards Hinata, who was looking at the ground. "Please understand, Hyuuga-sama, I have no qualms about the idea of teaching you, it is only the fact that my duties for ANBU come first."

"I understand," murmured Hinata.

"There isn't another ninja qualified to teach the weapon available, Altair," pointed out Kurenai. "I know this is a bit unusual, but…"

"I know," responded 'Altair'. "And I will teach you, Hyuuga-sama. Just know the best I can may be limited."

Hinata nodded. "Thank you, ANBU-sensei."

"You are welcome. Now, since Lizard-Interrogation-5 seems to have left, I will escort you back to the exit." He led them on a completely different path than the one that they had taken to get there.

"Thanks, Altair," said Kurenai, as they entered the lobby. "It was good to see you again."

"Likewise."

There was a moment of silence before Kurenai turned to look the ANBU directly in the mask, almost as if she could peer past the ceramic to the eyes behind them. "You could hang up the mask, you know…" she breathed.

"Doubtful," he murmured, before turning back towards the entrance to ANBU HQ's depths. "Hyuuga-sama. Keep your weapon on you at all times. I will appear when it is time for a lesson, and you do not want to waste valuable time." With that, he walked off.

Hinata wanted to ask her jounin-sensei what was going on behind the scenes of that conversation, but a lifetime of Hyuuga etiquette and manners stilled her tongue. Kurenai turned to her. "Well, you had better get going. I'll see you tomorrow." Hinata nodded and headed towards her clan's compound. Life seemed so different after the last few days.

A/N: Well, there we go. This story isn't dead after all. My thanks as always to KrillinFan, my ridiculously fast beta, and you readers. I had a lot of fun with a couple of scenes in the chapter, and I hope that you enjoy reading them. As always, please share your opinions through the wonderful medium known as a review. Till next time.


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